WH1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Headphones, Wireless Bluetooth Over the Ear Headset – Black (2018 Version)

I had Bose headsets for travel for over 20 years. I had Bose QC-1, QC-2; I still have QC-20 wired earbuds and aviation headset A20. Recently, I had a challenge of finding headset which not only works to cancel noise in an airplane, but which also works better than earplugs at home, especially to reduce noise of piano played in a different room. I compared Sony 1000XM3 with Bose QC35 and 700 at a store, bought two pairs of Sony, and compared them with Bose QC-20 and A20. On top of that, I did tons of research. To begin with, Bose used to be "the king of noise cancellation" for many years. This reign is coming to an end: the competition is fierce. In pro aviation world, Lightspeed created a strong competition to Bose, while in the consumer world, Sony came up with a product widely superior in noise cancellation. Bose tried to answer Sony with Bose 700, but it is still inferior in noise cancellation and usability and features of the phone app. According to independent testing data available on the internet, Sony's noise cancellation is up to 6 dB better than Bose. If you are not familiar with dB scale, it is a log scale, and 6 dB is a little more than a factor of 2. Noise cancellation efficiency is frequency dependent, so it is hard to compare apples to apples. Power spectrum across all frequency gives an about 2 dB advantage to Sony (29 dB compared to 27 dB of Bose 700), in low frequency range Sony beats Bose with a high margin (about 6 dB), in high frequency range Bose appears to be better. Yet, when you put Sony on your head, followed by Bose, and switch back and forth, Sony is impressively better. Like, way better. Tons better. So much better that you sometimes wonder if Bose is turned on at all. Comparing Sony XM3 with Bose QC20, Sony is better in all respects other than small size and weight of QC20. Noise cancellation is better, and sound quality is better. Comparison with aviation headset A20 shows that A20 is slightly superior in terms of noise cancellation (and, surprisingly, even in sound quality), probably due to a passive noise cancellation component - but A20 is a $1100 headset with a massive wire and console, and connectors are not compatible with consumer electronics. You would never consider it unless you fly an airplane as a pilot. High frequency hissing, which existed up to QC15 and still present in A20 (introduced in 2015) is almost gone in both newer Bose and in Sony. Difference in noise cancellation quality between Bose A20 and Sony XM3 is worth maybe $50, but not $800. I think we are talking about several dB, nothing major. Sound quality is subjective. Neither Sony nor Bose 700 are audiophile grade. One cannot tell the difference while playing music via Bluetooth from a phone, but plug them with a cable into a headphone amplifier and play 24/96 music, compare with Hi-Fi headphones (I have good old Sennheiser HD-620 which used to be in the top 10 best some 20 years ago; not anymore, but they are still great sounding high end headphones) - and you can tell immediately that these are not Hi-Fi headphones. Not even close. With a good sound source, they sound dull and sound stage is not there. But they sound well enough for daily use, for playing music from the phone, certainly better than most earbuds. Sony sounds a little better than Bose 700 to my taste, but it is close, very close, there are small difference in color of the sound which are very subjective. I rated the sound five stars because this is not a Hi-Fi headset, it is a noise cancelling headset, and the price is determined primarily by its noise cancellation abilities. As long as you can listen to music and enjoy it, as long as it does not sound like cheap earbuds, it is OK. For really high quality of sound without noise cancellation, there are much better options in the same price range. App is not required with Sony and Bose (despite misleading information on the web, either headset can be used without the app), but Sony app is much better. It does not require registration and has many more features, including adjustment of noise cancellation to ambient pressure. Sony, to my surprise, works very well for phone calls in the office environment. There were many reports that Bose was vastly superior, perhaps this is the case when one needs aggressive noise cancellation, like on the street among cars and people. Or maybe Sony made updates to firmware which fixed the issues which they had. When answering calls at home, the sound quality on the other end of the line is excellent. People cannot tell I am wearing a headset. Comfort is purely subjective and depends on one's head size and shape. I have a big head, so most headphones exert some pressure. Sony is no exception, but I am fine with that. I must say, the most comfortable headset for my head is Bose QC 35 II, followed by Sony XM3 and followed by Bose 700. Bose 700 feels a tad cooler on the ears. A20 creates too much pressure on my ears. For travel (e.g., vacation) QC20 is hard to beat, due to their very small size. They are inferior to XM3 or latest Bose, but do their job well enough. For use at home or in the office, bluetooth headsets with better noise cancellation and better sound and with the ability to make calls are the way to go. Finally, cancellation of piano sounds. My wife teaches piano full time from home. Sound is a problem in our home. When I am in the same room as our grand piano, I can hear it loud and clear, although much less loud than without the headset. However, when I go to my office and close the door (which is a glass door which only partially blocks the sounds), I can barely hear it and can focus on whatever I am doing without distraction from the sounds. I tried QC20 for this purpose, and they were not quite up to the task. I got the 33 NRR rated 3M earplugs, and they also were not perfect either. I can tell that Sony XM3 works better. I would not use XM3 to work with power tools, though. They are too expensive and possibly too fragile for a workshop, and the benefit is not large enough to warrant the difference in price. Build quality of Sony seems to be better than Bose (and less expensive, too). The headset is made in Malaysia. Bose, I must say, can make great quality headsets (A20, with 5 years warranty, is an evidence to that), but consumer grade headsets always had an almost marginal quality. Bose, by the way, does not repair them once they are out of warranty. They make you buy new ones with a discount. Two of my old Bose headphones broke and I had to replace them because repair option was not offered, and lifetime of synthetic leather ear pads was too short for a quality product. It is too early to say how well Sony would last - we will see. After buying the first headset on Amazon, I got another one for my son. My son absolutely wanted Bose, but after comparing them side by side in a store, and listening to mine, he said, I still like Bose, but I recognize that Sony is better in all respects... So we got him Sony from a local store. The only frustrating part is that Amazon has dropped the price by $50 after I bought both pairs! What a bummer - but now, Bose is completely not competitive. The only downside which I found so far... Sony can connect to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously, but it is confusing how the preference works (the one connected last has the higher preference for audio), and there is no easy way to change the preference or even disconnect a specific sound source. You cannot do it in the app. I think Bose is the same way. I also struggled with connecting to my desktop PC for audio and gave up attempts to set up the audio preference correctly. Either I did not figure out how to do it correctly, or something can be improved in the next releases of the App and firmware. I am sure it will be done, eventually. For what it is worth, competition between suppliers is good - it drives features and quality up and prices down. I hope, Bose will catch up eventually - they missed the opportunity to do it with the 700. Sony 1000XM3 remains the best product in this class for second year in a row.

I currently own about 30 headphones of various brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones and own the Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both the Sony WH-1000x MKI & MKII but returned them after weighing the shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony. After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model's sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing. But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt. The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard. So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”. In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used: Bose QC 35 II Bowers & Wilkins PX Bang and Olufsen H6 (wired) Sennheiser HD650 (wired) AKG 7KXX (wired) Spotify Flac files on phone and desktop computer UPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony's for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.

I will preface this review by stating that I own and have reviewed a great number of headphones in the past. It does not make me neither an audiophile nor an expert but it still gives me a lot of good reference. For each use, there must be a type of headphone. If you care about only the review of the Sony WH1000XM3, you can skip the following explanations. Open, Semi-Open or Closed headphones, what is that? - Open headphones are good for audiophile uses. It will yield the most fidelity to the sound but these headphones are generally meant for quiet rooms, for being used with an ampli and a DAC and for a very good audio source. These headphones will also give you the largest soundstage (the impression that the music comes from the room itself). - Closed headphones are meant to be used in noisy environments. They usually do not give you the best soundstage but you can still get a good sound. They will have much less sound leakage than the open ones. - There is also semi-Open which is a trade of between the two above. Intra-Auricular, Around your ears, on-ears, earbuds, what is that? - There are much different formats of headphones. - Intra-Auricular are the ones that go into your ear canal. They usually need a good seal to provide the best sound, especially bass. They will be the ones blocking the outside sound the best. - Earbuds are usually more generic buds like the ones that come with your phone. Usually their quality is not fantastic, except rare exceptions. Their price is generally low. - On-ears are headphones where the cans are going on your ear. They can sometimes not be too comfortable due to pressure on your ears but they are usually quite light. - Around your ears are headphones with very large cans that will encompass your ears completely. That is usually the category of preference for Audiophiles due to the large size of the drivers (50mm). Then you have the connection to the sound source: - Wired: the oldest and simplest one. Some have a remote and mic, some do not. Historically these are the ones giving you the best chance to have an optimal sound quality. - Bluetooth are wireless headphones that need power to work (batteries). The sound quality and battery life has greatly improved in the most recent years. Yet, a wired headphone will usually deliver the best sound. Last is the noise cancellation: - ANC: Active Noise Cancellation is a complex algorithm that select the frequency bands to “Make disappear” to allow you to listen your music in the best conditions. Although this technology has greatly improved, the resulting sound quality will never be as good as without ANC due to the difficulty in not cutting frequencies that were part of the music. Another misunderstanding is that ANC does not cancel voices so you will still hear babies crying in the plane, and even better than without it. - Passive isolation: Is usually achieved by intra-auricular buds that work as earplugs. On the ears headphones can also have a fair isolation due to the thickness of the earpads. The Sony WH1000XM3 falls into the ANC Wireless Over the ears category. Now onto the Sony WH1000XM3. As I stated, I own a very large collection of headphones, enough to last more than one lifetime so I have stopped buying more, except for when I feel like I could get a real benefit from one. It was the case for the Sony because I fly international regularly and it is always good to have a good noise cancellation in the plane when your trip last more than 8 hours. I had another passenger letting me try his pair at my request and I was favorably impressed by the comfort and noise isolation so I decided to indulge. Here is what I like about it: - Amazing comfort. I have no idea what the earpads are made of but it is a true pleasure wearing them. The pads wrap neatly around my ears with very little pressure on them, the top band does not put too much pressure either. - Best ANC I have ever experienced. The difference prior to turn it on and after is nothing short of amazing. - Very good sound. The Bass will please bassheads (listening to All the Stars from Kendrick Lamar and the bass is blasting my eardrums). The mids are very good too… The highs may be the least impressive but the sound is overall excellent. - Fair price. I own more expensive headphones that are not as comfortable, do not have ANC and do not sound as good… - Good app. Easy to configure. Pairing was easy - Nice carry case with everything you need while flying. - Battery life is of about 30 hours when in use. It will decrease slowly when not used but not by much. - The controls are very nice too. I love the cupping of one ear to allow a temporary muting of the sound to discuss or listen without turning it off or removing it. Here is what I like less: - Absolutely nothing! In conclusion: A resounding 5 stars. This headset is not only good for travelling but at work too and even at home…. Love it!

Around the holidays, I decided to treat myself to a pair of high quality headphones. I live in the central area of a major US city, and to be frank the noise pollution was driving me a little crazy. I was interested in a pair of headphones that would give me some peace and quiet, so I spent a lot of time looking at ANC (active noise-Cancelling) options and the Sony WH1000MX3 and Bose QuietComfort 35 II were easily the top picks among reviews. However, there were a lot of different opinions about which was better. The split was pretty 50/50 between the Sony and Bose, so I was pretty torn. Even though they were heavily discounted for the holidays ($300 each after taxes), that's a lot of money considering I generally never spend more than $50 for headphones. So I bought them both as an experiment, with the plan to return one after I made a decision. Let me get this out of the way now, because I'm going to get pretty detailed below. Ultimately, I understand why there's such a debate about whether the Sony or Bose is better. They are both fantastic headphones and I love them both. I love them so much, that I made the probably financially irresponsible decision to keep them both! They were both so good, but in better than the other in completely unique ways. For that reason, there is no dealbreaker that makes one better than the other -- I believe it comes down completely to personal preference and that's why there is so much debate on which is better. The TL;DR of this review is that you should buy the Sony if you value sound quality most, and don't plan to wear them for long periods of time (i.e. over 5-6 hours per session). You should buy the Bose if you value comfort the most, and if you're planning to use them for phone calls. If you're interested in a bit more detail, I'll give my opinions on these aspects: ANC, Sound, Comfort, Versatility ANC The noise-cancelling on both of these is phenomenal. I had assumed Bose would do better at this since it's what they're known for, but I'm surprised to say the Sony's ANC is slightly better. It does a bit better blocking out non-drone sounds (i.e. people talking, sharp noises, etc) compared to the Bose. With that said, they both are practically equal and I don't think the Sony ANC is so much better than the Bose that it would justify buying them on that factor alone. When wearing either pair, I sometimes feel like a spaceman walking around my apartment because everything is so quiet. SOUND This is a clear winner for Sony. No questions asked, the sound is clearer, crisper, and deeper. This is especially noticeable when watching movies/TV shows or playing video games. With the Sony, I feel like I can hear each individual sound clearly, whereas with the Bose everything is a little more muddled together. With that being said, the Bose sound is perfectly acceptable and even 'good'. It's just that for a $300 pair of headphones I'd expect a more premium quality where I am amazed at how clear the sound is. The Sony does that; the Bose are a tier below. COMFORT Hands down, the Bose are better. I can literally wear them for 14 hours and they don't bother me except for needing to give my ears a little air every once in a while. I have never, ever worn a pair of headphones this comfortable before. I'm especially grateful for this comfort now that I'm working from home all day because of COVID-19. The Sony headphones are a bit heavier and clamp on your head a little bit more tightly. They also press down on your ears, whereas the Bose are deep enough that my ears don't even touch the inside of the cans. The Sony are still definitely comfortable, but a tier below the Bose. I can still wear them for about 6 hours before they bother me, so if you don't wear headphones that long it might not be a problem for you. VERSATILITY This is just a catch-all for all the other aspects of the headphones. Nothing here I would consider a selling point strong enough for most people to make a final decision, but if you have specific needs then this might be helpful. 1. I like the physical buttons on the Bose more than the touch buttons on the Sony. They just work better, and I make mistakes with them less often. 2. Sony has better technology. They use USB-C so the headphones charge faster than the Bose mini-hdmi. They also have better bluetooth connection technology, which lets a higher bitrate of audio transfer wirelessly. Without getting too technical, I think this is a major reason why the sound quality on the Sony is better. 3. Bose is better if you want to connect to multiple devices. Bose can connect to two devices simultaneously, but Sony can connect to only 1 device at a time. For example, if I am listening to music on my computer and I get a phone call, if I'm wearing the Bose, I can answer and talk on the call through my headset, and when I hang up music will resume. With the Sony, I'd either have to disconnect from my computer, then reconnect to my phone before the call ended, or take off the headphones completely and answer the phone separately. 4. Sony looks a little more stylish and futuristic. The Bose look like an ordinary pair of headphones. Build quality is identical though CONCLUSION 5 months after buying these, do I regret keeping them both? NO! They are absolutely worth the money if you have it. Generally, I find that I wear the Bose throughout the day as I'm working from home. They're really comfortable to wear all day long, if I get a call from a co-worker I don't need to take them off, and I'm just listening to music as background noise while I work so sound quality isn't important. After dinner, it's always the Sony. When I'm focusing on a new album, watching a movie, or playing a video game, I really value how good the sound is. And generally I only wear them for 3-4 hours at this point so discomfort is never an issue. If you twist my arm about it and made me pick only one pair to own the rest of my life? I'd probably take the Bose just because I wear them so much while working from home. But that's not a fair metric, and each individual will have a different primary purpose for these and that should be your guiding principal when making the choice. Good luck! (longest review over)

I'm not writing this review for any type of financial gain and I bought the headphones for market value. Naturally the opinions expressed are mine and my audio preferences may differ from yours. I have a pretty good ear for sound and have a background in home theater and audio sales and setup. Now for the review. After reading many reviews and doing more research than was probably needed I decided that Sony and Bose were the top 2 contenders. My wife had recently bought on Amazon the Utaxo, which have good reviews, are cheaper, and when I took them on a flight I was satisfied with their performance (for the price) and without a comparison to other headphones. I abused BestBuy and their return policy and purchased the Sony and the Bose. In the store I sampled the SkullCandy and they sounded bass-heavy and not clear, so I didn't include them. I also looked at the Jabra's, but after reviews believed they wouldn't be as good and left them out as well. So, I decided on the top 2 contenders and then the Beats because I see so many people wearing them, and the Utaxo for those looking for a budget set. I created a spreadsheet to help guide me and used it loosely. I attached it so you can see a little of what I was testing. If you want the quick and dirty, I'd go with the Sony. Bose is 2nd. Beats 3rd. Utaxo 4th, but a good product for the price. Years ago I was in search of good wired headphones and compared the Audio Technica m50x against Monster, Senneheiser, Beyerdynamic, Monster, Sol, VModa, SkullCandy and a few others. I ended up with the Audio Technica (AT), and I mention that so you know my sound preference. I like more of a neutral sound with full range vs too bright or too bass heavy. Let's start the review. Here are the more detailed reasons for each headphone and why I chose them... Comfort: Bose wins here but marginally. Most headphones irritate me to some extent as did the Bose, but Sony was a close second. Beats were about as comfortable as my Audio Techica's (AT), which aren't horrible by and means and Utaxo was basically tied with beats. Both moderately comfortable and I did wear the Utaxo's for an entire flight without taking them off. (4 hour flight) Passive Isolation: I used various white noise, airplane sound, background voices. Again, Bose has the slight edge with Beats trailing. Utaxo were comfortable enough, but by comparison, last place. Utaxo were comparable to my AT's, which I didn't realize how little they block out. Not great. Active Noise Reduction: I placed Bose first, but only by a hair. I had my family try the comparisons and some chose Sony, some chose Bose. They reduce at different frequencies so you can hear some sounds more on each, depending on the background noise. Both are excellent. Beats again comes in 3rd and wasn't a close third. Utaxo did a moderate job, and as I said, I was happy using them on the plane but didn't have anything to compare to. For a budget set they do the job. The winners and absolutely impressive are Bose and Sony. Maybe a tie. Sound: This is probably the most important aspect of any headphone to me. I spent hours listening to different types of music. I had cables connected to each headphone and could quickly go back and forth between each. No, I couldn't put an SPL meter on each time to ensure the volume was exact but I did use the same source material and feel I have a pretty good feel for how they all sound. In the end, this is why I kept the Sony's. They aren't perfect and they aren't audiophile quality but they are really good. The most similar to my AT's. I found the Bose to be very sibilant at times with female vocals or tracks that had high frequencies in them. It happened time and time again and was the deal breaker for me with the Bose. Sony was more neutral, had adequate bass but didn't over-emphasize the higher tones. Less ear fatigue for me in the long-run. Beats were better than I was expecting. They also had some tendencies to boost the higher tones but had good bass. The Utaxo were good enough but just not impressive. Again, I was fine with them when I had no comparison but head to head they just don't compare favorably. The Sony app also has an equalizer feature that is super quick and easy to use, has some fun (not very useful) things like surround sound, soundstage localization, and a few other somewhat gimmicky features, but is much better than the Bose. Features: I didn't test the voice features on any of the headsets. It isn't that important to me. After using the Sony's for a few weeks, I do like the touch feature and the ability to hear ambient sound by placing your hand over the right ear cup. I also enjoy the Sony app, whereas the Bose app was lacking. Bose has the traditional buttons for volume which work fine but I did prefer the Sony touch interface more. Utaxo has standard buttons as well as the Beats, all work as intended. Conclusion: The Sony and the Bose are very close and though the Bose may be slightly more comfortable, the features and especially the Sound on the Sony pushed me towards them. The ability to equalize on the fly very easily is a great feature that Sony includes in the app. The touch interface is more user friendly than Bose or the others. Beats are a fine set but I'd pay the extra $70 for the Sony. If you find a pair at a great price, you wouldn't be disappointed. The Utaxo, at around $60, are a bargain and a good set of headphones. If you never have a chance to compare you would likely be satisfied with them. They are built well, are comfortable enough and put out good enough sound to enjoy music and video. But they do place a distant 4th in terms of isolation. First Place: Sony !!

I recently discovered the importance of owning a top-quality set of wireless noise-cancelling headphones after moving to New York City last fall. Walking the streets and riding the subway day in and day out becomes an altogether different experience when you can escape into your own world of music, audiobooks, or even just the relative silence offered by ANC headphones. Before purchasing the 1000XM3s, I had some junky wireless earbuds that, at the time, I thought sounded pretty good. I was WRONG! Compared to the 1000XM3s, I might as well have had a pair of tin cans strapped to my head. If you are reading this review and are seriously considering these headphones, then you have likely read other reviews and already know they are in the top of their class in terms of sound quality. I had planned to use them primarily during my commutes but have since found myself wearing them throughout the day. I have rediscovered my music collection, am hearing things I’ve never heard before, blah blah blah…all those wonderful things people say after switching to some expensive speakers/headphones. But it’s true, they sound GOOD! As you’ve probably also already heard, they do not have a perfectly flat response. They are a slightly bass-heavy, which is fine, even preferably for most of what I listen too. If the bottom-heavy response is holding you back, the Sony Headphones app offers adjustable EQ with factory and customizable user presets. Additionally, you can select multiple “surround” settings as well as sound position controls, neither of which are very useful in my opinion. More important to me was the LDAC and Aptx-HD codec support. I’ll admit, it took me a couple days to figure out how to get these things to run LDAC with my Samsung Note 8, however, once I got it working, I absolutely noticed improved quality over the default SBC codec. Unfortunately, using LDAC requires operating in “priority on sound quality” mode which disables the surround, position, and equalizer functions. Fortunately for me, I am not particularly interested in these options anyway. At least these things support high quality codecs in the first place, unlike Bose. You know what else Bose headphones don’t have? USB type-C! While this was initially not a major selling point for me, after using them every day, I am grateful for the faster charging of the type-C format. A ten-minute charge (or less) almost always gets me back to 100%. Not that I really need it. These headphones last FOREVER. The longest I have continuously used them was about 8 hours (with ANC on). Afterwards, I tapped the power button and the sexy Sony woman voice said, “about 70% battery remaining”. Extrapolating from that, the advertised 30-hour battery life seems accurate. Noise-cancelling is great! I don’t know what else to say. It’s not 100%. Obnoxiously loud people will still be faintly audible, but otherwise, pretty much all of the outside world is effectively cancelled out. I have not tried Bose ANC headphones or previous Sony models, but basically all reviewers say that the 1000-XM3s are the best on the market and I have no reason to believe otherwise. Also note, the Headphones app allows for customizable levels of noise-cancelling. There is an adaptive noise-cancelling feature which will adjust this setting after automatically detecting whether your are sitting, walking, running, or in transit. I have chosen to disable this as I prefer full noise cancelling 100% of the time. But I do see the value in this feature. Hopefully I won’t unknowingly walk out in front of a bus. I basically love everything about these headphones. Even the hard case feels luxurious and is literally as compact and thin as they could have possibly made it – an important feature for those of us who carry bags around all day with limited space! My only complaint is that they do not support multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections, that is, I cannot connect my laptop and phone at the same time - a minor issue considering it takes only 10 seconds to manually switch between devices. Anyway, I hope this review will be helpful to those on the fence. I spent days researching these damn things before pulling the trigger. They aren’t cheap for good reason; some serious top-notch engineering went into these headphones. You will not be disappointed!

All right. I figure it's about time to write up a review of these headphones, seeing as I've spent some decent time with them and the Christmas sales should be happening and some of you may be wondering if you should spring for these - OR - wait it out until the next model Mk IV eventually shows up. The most frequent question I get is "How long do these last with Noise Cancellation on?" With the ANC (active noise cancellation) function ON - I've seen about 22-24 hours or so of Bluetooth-connected operation with these. The noise cancellation operation / ambient sound mode of these headphones are run entirely by the internal charged battery. Someone asked me a while back if with the headphones connected to your phone via the headphone cable, if they would still have noise cancellation / ambient sound mode even if the battery was dead and the answer is no, no they will not. You can still listen to music through the 3.5 mm physical cable with a depleted battery, but noise cancellation will not be available. Actually, you also can't use Bluetooth / noise cancellation when even in the process of charging these headphones… (see "gripes" towards end of review).. so I guess it's good Sony decided to bestow a quick-charge 5-hour use time after a 10-minute charge function into these (using a wall receptacle USB adapter of course). Basically how it works is if you have an energized battery in the headphones you can use the noise cancellation and the Bluetooth connection - which also serves to activate the right ear cup touch-pad to perform functions on the headset. If you have an energized battery and decide to use the direct 3.5mm headphone cable to connect to your phone or computer instead, you can still use the noise cancellation, but the touch-pad will not be available to utilize as the cord now takes over for Bluetooth to serve music (and as it depends upon the Bluetooth connection to "talk" to the paired device for functions, the touch-pad is disabled). If you have a depleted battery you cannot use noise cancellation or the touch-pad but you can still get sound out of them like a regular pair of headphones by using the 3.5mm cable plugged into your phone or computer. The connectivity through Bluetooth seems really robust. I have had only one minor issue since owning these where the sound of what I was listening to hiccupped out for a fraction of a second a couple times, but I think it had more to do with my phone not behaving at that moment and not the headphones themselves causing the problem. Walking around inside or outside or for traveling, the connection has remained stable since. How "Good" the active noise cancellation works in any pair of headphones is somewhat subjective... but I can say these work really well, bearing a few things in mind and that we've not quite reached the technological level yet of producing truly silent headphones the quiets absolutely everything. Not for $350 dollars anyway. The headphone Manual itself states that "Noise Cancellation" works primarily in the low frequency band and that although noise is reduced, it is not completely cancelled. I can best equate the effect with just the active noise cancellation mode on and with nothing playing through them, to having a good set of hearing protection earplugs in your ears. Everything sounds reduced, especially things like dronning, humming, knocking and footsteps...there is a general quieter sound you experience, but you're not left completely oblivious to some noise coming through a little. These headphones will not surround you in a magical protective vacuum bubble when you have them on. However: The real magic happens when you start playing music through these headphones or listening to a movie or such. With the active noise cancellation diminishing the outside sound pretty well all on its own, the sonic enjoyment of what is playing through the headphones is not restricted at all... you get full volume, clarity and bass and that simply causes the outside world to melt away, leaving you with a little comfort-cocoon that really does impress. I have had very good success with these headphones canceling out unwanted noises and / or being able to enjoy what I want to listen to across a range of scenarios: Noisy Neighbors next door doing noisy things, kids pounding around upstairs in the house, traveling in the car (as a passenger of course - not driving!), a couple bus commutes, and so forth. As for the sound quality, I will say that they are very good. These are not high-end audiophile reference headphones costing thousands of dollars, but there is definitely high-quality audio out of these with a nice sound stage and separation with additional tweeking you can do through Sony's Headphone Connect application to adjust equalization and bass. These are not the loudest headphones I've ever used... I've had models that are almost obnoxious in their power delivery, to the point of being painful to listen to with the volume all the way up. I am the type of listener who likes a bit of punchiness in their music, but also appreciates nuances over ham-fisted bass slamming into my ear canals at the expense of everything else...and I will say that with the noise cancellation feature turned on, I'm actually enjoying music at a lower volume level than I'd need with other headphones. The WH-1000XM3's ability to effectively mute the outside distractions allows me to concentrate on what I'm listening to, and I don't need the volume cranked up to enjoy a range of music. I did have to tweek a few things with the app to suit my preferences, but I am left very happy with what these can deliver. Of note, you can set two "Custom" EQ settings in the app, so one you might use for punchier bass and the other for higher treble or vocal listening. The weight of these is impressively light. I might have been initially expecting them to have a weightier feel... maybe because I was thinking that with the added components necessary for noise cancellation, those would increase the headphone weight by several ounces. I'm happy to report that these headphones are able to be worn comfortably for extended duration with no feeling of pinched ears or sore spots. The ear cups on the WH-1000XM3's are of a more oval design than circular as found on my older Sony MDR-XB950BT headphones, and this makes them very comfortable to wear even laying back on a pillow or car seat. The thick padded circular ear cups on other headphones tends to press up against the back of a pillow or seat, and causes some pressure and discomfort against the back of my ears if worn too long when reclined. No such issues with these. I have seen a few complaints online about people reporting that their ears get warm after wearing these for a while. Having spent some time with these, I personally think it's the effect of just wearing a pair of closed-back headphones with snug-fitting padded ear cups causing this. Every pair of closed-back headphones I've worn with padding that encapsulate your ears will get to feeling a little warm after extended sessions with them on. For me personally, I have not had discomfort with these on even after a few hours of listening to music and watching a movie with the noise cancellation activated. The Phone Call microphone is something that many people seem to have initially hated on these headphones - many comments about how "it's garbage" and so on, reside on the internet. I am not sure where the hate is coming from, as I've had no issues making or taking phone calls with these, and nobody has complained about the call / microphone quality. Maybe Sony updated something in later production runs, but for whatever reason, the microphone seems fine on my pair. Certainly no worse than other headphones I've used. I will note that I did update the firmware to version 4.2.2 when I first fired-up the Sony App and when I used the headphones for the first time, so possibly that update may have corrected previous microphone problems. I have tested charging the WH-1000XM3's using an Anker PowerCore II 20000 battery bank and with a longer Anker USB-C to USB-A type cable than what Sony provides (see quibbles below), and they work together fine. The Anker battery bank will certainly output a 1.5 A current or more easily, which is what these headphones require for standard charging times. In conclusion, I am very happy with the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. Some people may consider these to be really expensive at $350 dollars US, but I don't think thats necessarily true. They're about $100 dollars more than other good quality headphones with similar performance sans active noise cancellation. Is the extra $100 bucks for having ANC worth it? To me, Yes. Definitely. The noise cancellation ability of these has allowed me to enjoy quiet time and listening pleasure that otherwise I wouldn't be able to have with regular headphones. You'll have to decide for yourself, but in a world with an ever increasingly loud and invasive noises you have to contend with daily, I've really really gotten to love using these, despite a few issues I don't really like. **************************************************** Some minor quibbles: A literally 6-inch long USB-C to USB-A power cable, Sony? I just shelled out $350 bucks for a set of your headphones and you stuck me with a barely-useable power cable, never mind no included USB power adapter? You couldn't get the bean counters to authorize even a foot of cable? Jeeze. If you buy these headphones you are going to for sure want a longer USB-C to USB-A cable to charge these with. Anker has some nice ones you can get right here on Amazon. The right-hand ear cup touch-pad is novel, and it has worked for me fine. My only little grumble about it, is the function to pause the music or accept a phone call requires you to do a quick double-tap with your finger on the center of the ear cup touch-pad. Problem is, my ear is in there and the sound of my finger quickly tapping it makes a loud "Thump-Thump!" sound I find annoying. I would have MUCH preferred a physical button instead. I picked the "silver / grey" model color of these headphones, simply because they looked a bit different than the boring ol' black every other headphone comes in. I have noticed that depending on the color temperature of the surrounding light, they can appear to look anywhere from a silver / grey coloration to more of a champagne / very light tan in color. It's not off-putting, and I do like the color of the headphones... but some of you may not appreciate the reactive effect these have in either cool or warm colored light. Figured I'd mention it. My big gripe: You cannot CHARGE these headphones and at the same time, listen with them using Bluetooth or with the ANC on. That seems backwards as Hell to me, considering I probably own at least 10 other electronic devices that CAN be used WHILE they are charging. My Smart Phone, yup. DSLR camera, sure. Voice Recorder, indeed. Graphing Calculator, Uh-huh. Sony MiniDisc Player from literally 15 YEARS ago? YES. So why is it that with these modern $350 headphones, you can't plug them into a usb wall adapter, laptop, or battery bank with a USB-C cable and keep enjoying ANC and Bluetooth connection and listening enjoyment while charging? The moment you plug the USB-C charging cable into these, you lose all Bluetooth and ANC, and the sound shuts off until you stick the physical corded 3.5mm cable into the audio source…which at this point means you're now using a pair of regular headphones because again: No Bluetooth, no Active Noise Cancellation going on. Very very strange, and although with 20+ hours of listening on tap with a full charge, I still question if this isn't something that really should be improved upon with version Mark IV. Wishes for FUTURE: Improved ANC with better elimination of higher pitched / sharp noises, maybe an available headphone stand that can provide the headphones with some type of inductive charging might be nice. Oh, and let us be able to charge AND listen to these with Bluetooth / ANC active at the same time please, Sony.

These headphones perform three functions for me: - music listening - audiobook listening - digital piano sound isolation - telephone meetings They sound great - and bluetooth AAC sounds great from my Apple devices. They stay connected with a clear signal about 40-ish feet away from the source device My digital piano is next to the television, so when my wife watches TV - I practice piano. I needed a headphone that could isolate my piano music from the TV... These do the job better than sound isolating headphones like DirectSound ex29 - which I also own... I *can* hear the TV, it's just so minimized so as to not be a bother. I use these headphones wired with the digital piano. The headphones work wired or bluetooth ... and in wired mode, can work passively. The sound quality suffers radically when they are unpowered - I don't use them that way... I'd consider that an emergency feature, so you'll never be without sound. They work fine as a telephone headset. Not great, not bad. I hear fine, and never have had a complaint about my voice, but I'd say apple AirPods make the person speaking sound clearer. But not bad. I like that you can adjust the amount and kind of noise cancelation you'd like ... I usually use them with it 100% on, but if you want ambient sound to be let in, you can do that ... I like the double-tap the right cup to pause/play music I find the on/off button a bit more difficult to use than the Bose switch... you have to press and hold the button on these - and it's not that easy to find, because there are two buttons... (the other is for the ambient sound mode). I'd rather have a physical on-off switch rather than a press-to-hold button The performance of these phones are great - I'm enormously satisfied. The comfort is better than okay - and worse than great. I think my Bose QC-15's are a bit more comfortable - not because they are softer, these are similarly soft, but because these get a bit hot. I thought they got too hot the first couple of times I used them, then I was no longer bothered ... I did buy cloth covers for the pads - (but since I got used to the phones, I stopped using the covers.). So... hot enough that I thought I needed covers, but good enough that I don't use them... if that makes sense. Overall, I'm very very pleased